The Makeover

Morgan Stanley's strategy of lower risk and less debt trading may be the new model for Wall Street.

On the neat wraparound desk at Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman's 40th floor office overlooking midtown Manhattan sits a plain sheet of white paper under a plastic cover. Labeled "Morgan Stanley Strategy," it answers in less than half a page three simple questions: "What do we do? How do we do it? With what result?"

It's striking that anyone -- let alone the CEO -- would need to be reminded of what Morgan Stanley (ticker: MS) does. But considering the pace of change in the securities industry over the...